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Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (commonly shortened to Follow That Bird) is a 1985 American musical road-comedy film, directed by Ken Kwapis, starring many Sesame Street characters (both puppets and live actors). This was the first of two Sesame Street feature films, followed in 1999 by The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. The film was produced by Children’s Television Workshop, The Jim Henson Company and Warner Bros., and filmed at the Toronto International Studios, and on location in the Greater Toronto Area. Plot The Feathered Friends' Board of Birds (consisting of the Madame Chairbird, a sparrow, a turkey, a puffin, a robin, and an owl), an organization whose purpose is "to place stray birds with nice bird families," discusses the case of Big Bird. The group's social worker Miss Finch (performed by Cheryl Wagner and voiced by Sally Kellerman) is sent to Sesame Street, New York City, to find Big Bird, who is the street's playboy, and bring him to a worthy family of dodos in Oceanview, Illinois. However, Big Bird begins to feel distressed in living with the dodos when they insist on calling him "Big Dodo", and the dodos all think very poorly of non-birds, suggesting Big Bird should have a bird as a best friend instead of his butler, Mr. Snuffleupagus (who is currently watching over Big Bird's nest), which proves to be the last straw for Big Bird, who realizes that the Dodos are working for Miss Finch. When Big Bird eventually runs away from his new home to head back to Sesame Street, he ends up on the news, Miss Finch tells reporter Kermit the Frog that she intends to reclaim him. His friends on Sesame Street also see the news and band together to find him before Miss Finch does. The Mayor of the Street, Gordon, millionaire Olivia, her servant Linda, and the captain of the Sesame Street Guards, Cookie Monster, set out in a Volkswagen Beetle, market owner Count von Count departs and drives in the Countmobile, chief security officer Ernie and his assistant, Bert, go out to search in an airplane, crook Grover becomes as Super Grover and flies (later falling into the Volkswagen), the street's police officers Maria, Telly Monster, and Homer Honker ride with their boss, Oscar the Grouch, in the Sloppy Jalopy, and the Assistant Mayor of the street, Bob, instructs all of them to head to Toadstool, Indiana where they should meet up with Big Bird. Big Bird has numerous adventures in his attempt to get home. First, he hitches a ride with a turkey truck driver (Waylon Jennings) who encourages him not to give up trying to get to his goal. He then meets two kids named Ruthie and Floyd (Alyson Court and Benjamin Barrett) at a farm and sleeps in their barn overnight. The next morning, Big Bird plays with Ruthie and Floyd. Later on, Big Bird comes to a stop when Miss Finch appears. Ruthie and Floyd tell him to hide in their hay field and Big Bird sneaks away. After that, Big Bird comes across a cornfield, and then imagines Snuffy. After Snuffy disappears, Big Bird is spotted by Ernie and Bert in their plane. Big Bird, however, is unaware that they are in it and thinks it's Miss Finch. When Ernie steers it towards Big Bird, he flees in fright. Ernie turns it upside down to get his attention and begins singing "Upside Down World" with Bert beginning to join in singing, but when they turn it back up Big Bird is gone and Ernie blames it on Bert. Big Bird is also sought by two unscrupulous scam artist brothers known as the Sleaze Brothers, consisting of the crafty, selfish and short-tempered Sam (Dave Thomas) and feeble-minded, cowardly and worrisome Sid (Joe Flaherty), who operate a fraudulent carnival called The Sleaze Brothers Funfair. They want to capture him to put him on display. Eventually Big Bird arrives in Toadstool. Shortly after arriving, Miss Finch finds him there and gives chase through the city. On the outskirts, the Sleaze Brothers have set up their carnival and Big Bird shows up asking if they have a place to hide him from Miss Finch. They then put him in their "hiding cage." Big Bird realizes that the Sleaze Brothers hired Miss Finch to eliminate him. They decide to paint him blue and tout him as "The Bluebird of Happiness." However, his performance is one of sadness as he sings a song about wishing to be back home with his friends. Despite this, he brings in a lot of customers as Sam is seen backstage during the performance happily counting their piles of cash. After the show, two kids sneak backstage to see him. Upon noticing them, Big Bird asks them to call Sesame Street to tell his friends where he is. They agree and call them right away. The next morning, his friends sneak into the carnival and find him. However, the Sleaze Brothers quietly wake up. Just as Linda unlocks Big Bird's cage, the Sleaze Brothers drive off in their truck with the cage (and Big Bird still in it) in tow. Gordon and Olivia give chase in the Volkswagen and succeed in rescuing Big Bird, after telling him to jump from the moving truck. Shortly afterwards due to speeding, the Sleaze Brothers are pulled over by a police officer (John Candy) and his kid sidekick (whose apple was stolen at the Sleaze Brothers' carnival earlier in the film) and arrested on charges of counterfeiting, extortion, fraud, impersonating a dentist, and apple theft. Back on Sesame Street, Big Bird is happy to be back home and looks on as Miss Finch arrives. Miss Finch admits to Big Bird that the Dodos were not perfect for him but says she has found him another bird family. Maria convinces her that he can be, and is, happy there on Sesame Street where that it does not make any difference that his family consists of humans, monsters, cows, Grouches, Honkers, and the other varieties of eclectic species there. What matters is that they are family. After considering what she has heard and realizing how far his friends went to try to bring him back, Miss Finch declares that Sesame Street is his home and leaves satisfied. Big Bird is then reunited with Snuffy. Gordon, Olivia, Linda, and Grover bring the Volkswagen (which was mostly eaten by Cookie Monster) to a construction worker/mechanic named Susan, Maria, Bob, and another police officer named Luis to see if they can fix it. At the end of the film, Oscar is carried around the block in his trash can by Bruno the Trashman in order to get over everyone's happiness. At the beginning of the end credits, the Count begins to count the movie credits (in a nod to the television series, he calls the co-creator of Sesame Street Joan Ganz Cooney "mom" when her name is credited as one of the executive producers). The Count announces 278 credits and does his trademark laugh accompanied by a thunderclap. Cast *Caroll Spinney as: **Big Bird, an industrialist and consummate playboy. **Oscar the Grouch, the police chief of Sesame Street. **Bruno the Trashman *Jim Henson as: **Kermit the Frog **Ernie, the Head of Security on Sesame Street who looks into security cameras in his apartment *Frank Oz as: **Bert, the assistant Head of Security **Grover, the criminal of Sesame Street **Cookie Monster, the captain of Gordon's Guards *Jerry Nelson as: **Count von Count, the owner of the local Sesame Street market **Herry Monster **Biff *Richard Hunt as: **Gladys the Cow **Feathered Friends Member **Sully **Elmo *Martin P. Robinson as: **Mr. Snuffleupagus, Big Bird's trusted butler who is currently watching over Big Bird's nest. **Telly Monster, a police officer and Homer, Maria, and Luis' partner. **Grouch Diner Patron **Poco Loco *Bob McGrath as Bob Johnson, Gordon's assistant and best friend. *Roscoe Orman as Gordon Robinson, the Mayor of Sesame Street. *Linda Bove as Linda, Olivia's servant. *Emilio Delgado as Luis Rodriguez, a police officer and Maria, Homer, and Luis' partner. *Sonia Manzano as Maria Figueroa, a police officer and Telly, Homer, and Luis' partner. *Alaina Reed as Olivia Robinson, a millionaire in Sesame Street. *Loretta Long as Susan Robinson, a construction worker/mechanic. *Joe Flaherty as Sid Sleaze, Miss Finch's brother in-law and Sam's younger brother and assistant. *Dave Thomas as Sam Sleaze, Miss Finch's husband and Sid's older brother and boss. *Cheryl Wagner as Miss Finch, the social worker to the Feathered Friends, who is secretly an assasin to the Sleaze Brothers who is sent to send Big Bird back to Oceanview forever. **Sally Kellerman as the voice of Miss Finch *Tim Gosley as Homer Honker, a police officer and Telly, Maria, and Luis' partner. *Fred Garver as: **Barkley, Gordon's pet dog and servant. **Feathered Friends Parrot. **Feathered Friends Owl. *Trish Leeper as Mommy Dodo, the leader and Matriarch of the Dodo family. **Laraine Newman as the voice of Mommy Dodo *Gord Robertson as Daddy Dodo, the Patriarch of the Dodo family. **Brian Hohlfeld as the voice of Daddy Dodo *Shari Weiser as Marie Dodo, the daughter of Mommy and Daddy Dodo. **Cathy Silvers as the voice of Marie Dodo *Jeff Weiser as Donnie Dodo, the son of Mommy and Daddy Dodo. **Eddie Deezen as the voice of Donnie Dodo *Noel MacNeal as Madame Chairbird *Pam Arciero as Grundgetta *Kathryn Mullen as: **Feathered Friends Magistrate **Grouch Diner Parton **Anything Muppet Girl *Kermit Love as Willy *Alyson Court as Ruthie *Benjamin Barrett as Floyd *Waylon Jennings as Turkey Truck Driver *Sandra Bernhard as Grouch Diner Waitress *Chevy Chase as Newscaster *John Candy as State Trooper *Paul Bartel as Grouch Diner Cook *Jerry Juhl as Additional Grouches (voice)